NOVEL WEB illusions of power
[Time skip, sundown]
The sun is ready to set, and Byron knows tonight will be dangerous. She has been practicing with the Light Mirage technique, finding more ways to use it than just shrouding and hiding things. Making illusions is the intended use of this technique, but with enough mastery and some Qi, she can gather light and use it as a weapon.
An orb of reflective qi with light inside, focusing all of the light in one place with one movement, could easily allow for intense heat to be generated. After all, light is energy. Possibly, Byron could remove the light from an area, making it colder to freeze things. These are too hard to do at the moment though.
Standing up and cracking her knuckles, she lets out a smirk, excited for some action in her training. Monotonously doing the same training every day and night is boring after all. Fighting makes it more interesting and challenging.
[Nightfall, beginning of the hunt]
Byron is racing through the forest with a mirage shrouding her entire body from any monster's vision. Byron uses all the non-fighting downtime for training and body cultivation. Gathering Yin energy while searching for demon lions.
Swiftly weaving between trees and being as quiet as possible, she suddenly changes directions, speeding directly at a demon lion. This particular one was prowling for smaller prey. Which is good for Byron because it's distracted by a horned rabbit it's stalking.
Once again, making sure she is downwind, Byron ambushes the demon lion. Learning from the previous fight. She swiftly smashes the demon lion's side, dragging it down with the claws on her gauntlets. A chunk of the beast's flesh is ripped right off, and it lets out a howl almost like a cry for help, scaring the horned rabbit away.
The demon lion takes a leap away from where it got attacked, and its keen eyes are scanning the surroundings like the previous lion. It can't see what attacked it..... no it sees blood dripping from something invisible!
The beast takes this chance and dashes right for Byron with its jaws ready to rip whatever this thing is apart. Byron won't stay in one place and tank this attack, though. Getting hit for no reason isn't a good thing.
Rolling to the side, Byron takes advantage of the beast's weakened stance from landing, and she pummels its face. Knocking the creature on its side, the beast suddenly leaps away. With a loud howl, it charges directly at Byron's scent trail.
Wildly swiping its claws everywhere, the beast makes contact with a tree, obliterating its bottom half. Byron calmly approaches the flailing creature, then she makes a fast movement. Sliding right underneath the beast, slashing at its stomach.
The beast got slashed right across its stomach, its ribcage protecting the beast's vital organs. This violent attack was effective, but it also enraged the beast. It closes its eyes and focuses only on smell. Pinpointing Byron's location, it quickly dashes towards her.
Byron jumps into the air, letting the creature pass under her before slamming itself into the shrouded tree behind her. Byron lands on its back. Once again, she breaks its spine to immobilize it. She dodges her way onto its head and is about to kill this beast.
Out of nowhere, three demon lions start to approach her, roaring out of rage. Quickly, Byron breaks the current demon lion's neck to secure the kill and slowly observes the lions. They are searching the area for whatever killed their fellow demon lion.
[(repeat) killed demon lion +100 achievement points!]
Byron, seeing the massive issue of fighting 3 of these beasts at once, silently makes her way out of the area. She might be able to take on 2 at once because of her techniques, but 3 is too much. She has to find a way to separate them so they can be killed individually.
Unable to see anything out of the ordinary in the forest other than a rustle here and there, they make their way over to the corpse and investigate. Sniffing for any scents they find Byron's scent. Sticking together and following the trail. Byron knows she has to use mirages to separate them.
Byron begins to assess the situation. 'If all of the illusions look the same, they will definitely know only one is real.... I'll use mirages, making them all look different, to draw them away from each other..... Who would have thought that the howl at the start was a cry for help'
Scoffing at the thought, Byron makes 3 mirages that look like different people all running in separate ways. This catches the demon lion's attention. Looking at each other for confirmation, they split up, thinking each individual human wouldn't be strong enough to beat them if they needed a team of 3 to beat one demon lion.
Seeing that her plan worked, she follows one of the demon lions. Byron violently leaps at the beast while shrouded and invisible. With a single deadly strike, she slices its throat, making sure it can't call for help. Showing no mercy as its throat gurgles, she shrouds herself in a mirage once more.
The beast tries to cry for help, but only bubbles at the cut in its throat foam up with its attempts. Fear covers its face as it knows it will die. Out of nowhere, its face slams into the ground as Byron lands a powerful down slam, breaking its jaw.
She then proceeds to snap its neck to make sure this thing is dead. She stands up and leans on a tree to catch her breath. She realizes that the mirages got destroyed; at this point, the demon lions must have met back up.
[(repeat) killed demon lion +100 achievement points!]
*SNAP*
Quickly turning around, Byron sees two demon lions; one is covered in a red glow that feels like some sort of energy. These demon lions are no longer so simple, and it seems like they can cultivate some form of energy as well.
Standing her ground, Byron stares directly at the one covered in the red glow. With a growl full of pure rage, it leaps at her, its eyes releasing a powerful death stare that could immobilize a normal human.
Momentarily caught off guard by this and freezing up a little, Byron narrowly blocks its attack. She gets sent flying backwards into a tree, but the bronze gauntlets helped her when blocking so as to not have them ripped off by its claws.
Getting out of the dust, coughing up blood. Byron recalls her gauntlets and forms a triangle with both of her hands, and a large amount of energy can be seen getting released into the atmosphere... but not felt. The demon lions seeing this are in awe of these visuals.
Suddenly, this visualized energy forms powerful looking blades that start to whirl around her. Opening her eyes, Byron has an ethereal glow surrounding her body, one you would see from a powerful immortal who has lived for thousands of years.
The demon lions, extremely intimidated by this display of power, start to shiver where they stand.